Webinar: Modernizing Hydropower Plants with High-Performance FishSafe™ Turbines

In this public webinar, the Natel team explains how we design FishSafe™ turbines and how those turbines enable exceptional fish passage survival, reduce costs, and simplify plant operations. We discuss how FishSafe™ turbines work and how they compare to other types of turbine designs. When we use the term "runner," we are referring to the turbine blades that rotate inside the turbine. It is the unique shape of FishSafe™ runners that allow fish to pass directly through Natel-designed turbines with 98-100% survival rates.

Modernizing Hydropower Plants with High-Performance, FishSafe™ Turbines
00:00 Intro to Natel & hydropower
‍03:54 Fish passage status quo
‍05:26 Why FishSafe™ turbines?
‍10:32 Where can FishSafe™ turbines help?
‍13:30 How do FishSafe™ turbines work?
‍20:57 Designing for fish passage: studies & modeling
‍27:04 Implementation of FishSafe™ turbines
‍29:20 Site-specific engineering & visualizations
‍33:25 Big-picture benefits of FishSafe™ turbines

Audience questions
‍34:50 Q1: Head limit for FishSafe™ turbines?
‍36:51 Q2: Benefits of partnering with multiple manufacturers?
‍39:50 Q3: Power production of FishSafe™ turbines?
‍42:25 Q4: When is barotrauma an issue?
‍42:37 Q5: Links to papers and studies?
‍44:06 Q6: Flow rate limit for FishSafe™ turbines?
‍45:05 Q7: Cost?
‍45:45 Q8: Pumped storage?
‍46:20 Q9: Why downstream fish passage?

Natel's publications
‍Natel's fish passage tests

‍Speakers
Abe Schneider, Co-founder & CTO
Sterling Watson, Principal Engineer
Kate Stirr, VP of External Affairs
Pat Donahue, VP of Business Development